Tips For Grilling Steaks on a Gas Grill

By Andre Savoie

Grilled to Perfection: Tips to Keep the Sizzle in Your Gas Grilled Steak

Are you tired of guessing the best ways to prepare the grill and the meat? Have you eaten enough over-cooked, dry steak? Have you wondered how restaurants produce those steaks with the picture perfect grilling pattern? If you answered 'yes' to any of those questions, then you will appreciate these simple tips. Here are some answers to common questions about grilling steaks.

• What temperature? Before you get started, determine how everyone likes their steak cooked. Use the highest heat for rare or medium-rare, and medium heat for medium or well-done. This sounds counterintuitive, but the rarer steaks need to cook fast at a high heat in order to sear the outside and keep the inside rare. The more well-done steaks should cook slowly on a medium heat in order to avoid burning the outside and drying out the inside.
  
  
  

• How to prepare the grill? Oil the grill by brushing a thin layer of oil on the grates. You can also rub the steak fat onto the grate using tongs.
  
  
  

• How to prepare the meat? While the grill is heating, remove the steaks from the refrigerator and let them come to room temperature before placing on the grill. Rinse and trim the fat.
  
  
  

• How to treat the meat? Keep the steaks moist and tender by coating with a thin layer of cooking oil and the seasoning of your choice. A little salt and as much pepper as you like are good default seasonings. You can also try garlic powder, or a dash of cayenne pepper.
  
  
  

• When to flip the steak? Look for signs that the steak is starting to bleed through. You'll see small red spots, which will tell you it's time to flip the steak over.
  
  
  

• Although you only need to flip it once, flipping it multiple times will create a nice criss-cross pattern. Grill each steak for one minute. Turn on the grill on the other side for one minute. Then, turn and replace at a 45-degree angle for half of the remaining cooking time. Turn once more at a different 45-degree angle for the final minutes on the grill.
  
• How long should it cook? Although a thermometer (see below) is suggested, it's good to have a general idea of how long to cook each steak. Here are some general guidelines, depending on the thickness of the steak:
  
  • 1" Thick Steaks - Rare 8-10 minutes, Medium 12-14 minutes, Well 16-20 minutes
  
  
  
  • 1 1/2" Thick Steaks - Rare 10-16 minutes, Medium 16-20 minutes, Well 22-26 minutes
  
  
  
  • 2" Thick Steaks - Rare 12-16 minutes, Medium 18-22 minutes, Well 24-28 minutes
  
  
• When is the meat done? We all know the cut and look method to determine of the meat is done. This isn't ideal, because if it's too late, then you've overcooked the steak. If it's too soon, then you run the risk of drying out the meat. This is the perfect time to use a meat thermometer, ideally a meat fork.
  
• When is the meat ready to eat? The steak continues to cook for abut 5minutes after you remove it from the grill. Keep this in mind when determining the optimal temperature for your preferred 'doneness'. Let the steaks rest for 5 minutes before eating.

Few things say summer like the sizzle and aroma of a steak cooking on your gas grill. Grilling the perfect steak may be easier than you realize. And if you follow these easy tips, you'll be sure to dazzle your guests and family. Just remember that with a little preparation, some patience, and the right tools, grilling the perfect steak to please everyone is easy. Follow these tips, and you can just sit back and relax. Let your grill do the work for you.

Andre' Savoie writes for BBQGrillCompany.com who offers high quality Lynx BBQ grills brands. We also offer articles that will teach you how to best use your grill including steak grilling tips.

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How to Marinate Anything

How to Marinate Anything
By Todd Mohr

Everyone loves to have their favorite foods cooked to perfection on the grill. And learning how to marinate is an important step in achieving this perfection. marinating is a cooking method - or at the very least an important prelude to many cooking methods - that needs to be understood in itself. It is much more than simply soaking your favorite meat in your favorite salad dressing before slapping it on the grill. Or at least it should be! There are some tricks to getting it right and lucky for you, they are simple and you will learn them right here!

Marinate with a Mission.

You're probably wondering if you really need to learn how to marinate for great grilling. My general mantra when it comes to cooking is that there are no unbreakable rules. So I guess, in sticking with that, you don't HAVE to do anything. But before you decide your reading for now is over, let me give you some quick reasons why you might WANT to marinate. marinating meats imparts flavor, adds moisture, and can (to a degree) tenderize meat. The first secret to great marinating is learning how to match the correct marinate with the correct cut of meat and then apply the correct cooking method. This simple formula will produce great results every time.

Proceed with Caution (but not too much!).

In learning how to marinate, one of the things to determine is what meat you plan to use. A common mistake is to overestimate the meat tenderizing results that can be achieved with marinating. Yes, marinating will provide SOME tenderizing - but only some. You still cannot take shoe leather, marinate it and cut it with a butter knife. It's not going to happen - and expecting that will only produce those disappointing results I mentioned before. Like anything else you cook, it is always best to start with good ingredients and to consider the end result you desire. In addition, muscle tissue will absorb marinate better than fat tissue so using an overly fatty piece of meat will result in very little marinating actually getting into your product.

There is a Method to the Madness (and to the marinate).

Making your own marinate is easy and ingredient options are virtually limitless. In most marinates, the essential ingredient is an acid, which acts as a slight tenderizer, but the type of acid you choose is completely open to your creativity and the type of dish you are making. Wine, lemon juice, tomato juice, balsamic vinegar, orange juice pineapple juice and margarita mix are all fairly common acids that work great in marinates. Adding oil is also an option, but keep in mind that the oil itself will not be drawn into the muscle tissue. Oil in this case is used solely for flavoring so if you use oil, choose a flavored oil. Fresh herbs and spices can also add flavor to marinates and you've got lots of choices here, too. When using herbs, remember that whole herbs release their flavor slowly so they work best for long marinates. If you are going with a quicker marinate, grind up the herbs before use to impart their flavor more quickly. Then you just make it up! Yes, you read that correctly. There is no recipe here because there are hundreds of recipes for marinates and I don't know what you like or what you're making. The key to cooking success is to learn the basic cooking methods, the techniques of achieving the end result you desire, and then let your taste, imagination and your unique situation be the guide for making up your very own marinate recipe, which might be different each and every time you marinate.

The only Reaction should be a Good One.

Always place the product you are marinating (with the marinate) in an air-tight container to keep the moisture in. Remember - one of the reasons we are going through this process is to add moisture so you don't want to lose it at the same time! How long you let the juices soak in to the meat depends on how much time you have and the cut of meat you are using. The thicker the meat, the longer you will have to marinate to impart the flavor into the protein. Remember to use an acid-resistant container such as stainless steel. Don't use copper or pewter as this can react with the acid, making those who eat the food sick. Finally, always store the container in the refrigerator for the entire duration - until you cook the meat. Remember to always discard the marinate after you have finished marinating and never re-use the marinate during the cooking process because it has had raw meat soaking in it for a length of time. In these ways, you are ensuring food safety.

So - what will you make this weekend? Relax. You know how to marinate and you've got a whole summer of delicious experimentation ahead of you!

Chef Todd Mohr is a classically trained chef, entrepreneur, educator and host of the "Cooking Coarse" video series. For more details on Cooking by Method and how you can cook better everyday at home, visit Chef Todd's website http://www.i-hate-cooking-recipes.com/ where you can view over 150 free cooking videos and subscribe to the Free monthly e-zine "Burn Your Recipes."

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